hauntedsavior | ic inbox

[ —uh, so that is. that is a thing! that makes itself immediately apparent to falco. he welcomes her to his home, shared by two others, with a great dumb smile and a hug around her waist to intensify it. it’s when he looks up again, seeing this line— the smile looses some of its spread and falls to palpable concern. ]

Maybe it’s best— hmmm, can I get you anything? [ he gestures briefly to his own eye. ] Oils or—?

[ a patching? was she injured? ]

[anna shakes her head, but she is at least grateful for the offer judging by the smile.]

Don't worry about it. It doesn't really hurt, it's still just healing. There was... I don't know, uh. Ruby got a little corrupted. [that feels like the nicest way to say it. don't lay blame at anyone's feet.] It's not a big deal, really. What's up with you?

[ . . . oh, dear. ruby. he's been helping jun with his concussion he barely left the house beyond going to school and back— and that was after he'd come back from a long stay in the sea after his older self's death. well. you know what this means! once he's led her to sit on the couch, he's running off to fetch his kit in his room, but his steps are quick to bring it back and sit by her. ]

I'm alright, um— I have oils that can help wounds heal. [ and after a beat, he adds: ] I made them myself.

[ before they really get to the juicy bit, how could one say no? ]

[ah, well, okay, fine. fine. she can't exactly say no now that he's got all his stuff ready and he's willing to treat her. she slowly takes off the eyepatch; most of the damage is that long scar down her face from where the spear had come out. but there's still scabbing around the eye socket itself, and looking too closely would reveal that she doesn't actually have her glass eye in there anymore. it's as visible as so much stardust.]

Just don't get grossed out or anything, okay? Last time I lost this eye I didn't have blood, so this is new for me, too.

[ luckily— the worst in his life at war has perhaps already prepared falco for ugly bits and rotting parts, people shredding in bits by bomb shells and split apart by the teeth of titans, or a veteran's head cracked against concrete. when anna pulls her eye patch away, falco's features remain still and, as the blood ministers have always emphasized— professional. ]

I'm okay.

[ . . . which is kind of unnatural for anyone his age, but it is what it is. trauma makes you numb to certain things and hypervigilant to others. he's actually trying to tilt his head in a way to confirm what he's seeing: there is just an empty socket, nothing within it. well, he hopes there's nothing! ]

Are you feeling any pressure anywhere? On the inside?

[ he'll ask what actually happened after the rundown, but as he waits for an answer, he's preparing his sanitizers, cotton balls and cleaning liquids in these little valves with wooden cork tops. ]

[there's nothing in it! not as far as anna knows, at least. the spear that she'd been attacked with had remained intact, and to the best of anna's knowledge, she's cleaned out all the shards of seaglass that had broken inside the socket. that had sure as hell not been a clean or easy process, but, well, kainé and vesper had seen worse. no, this is... this is just an empty eye socket. and it's only because of her blood, she's sure, that it's healed as much as it has internally.]

I don't think so... not anymore. I asked K and our roommate V to take a look inside and just make sure that everything was, like. Taken care of, you know? Is there any kind of pressure that I should be worried about?

[she realizes that might not be the most helpful thing in the world to say, and she explains:] The first time I lost it, it was basically like it got deleted from existence. No violent trauma or anything. So I don't really know what to expect this time. You've been training.

[ oh, thank god. with all that seen (said) and done, falco continues over to what matters: the tissue on the outside that should definitely scar. dabby dabby he goes, as gentle as a feather. ]

Only if there's like . . . Infection, that could pocket somewhere. [ and just all around squeeze all the other muscles around the socket and make things hurt. ] It looks really clear, though— I'm glad they took care of you.

[ after a moment— he does have this tiny little quirk propping his lips up into a smile. he has to press them together to hide smiling too much, but that just ends up making him look like he's smiling more than he is. ]

I'm going to school.

[ and even if he's focused on disinfecting and then dabbing something else that smells like bloodborne potions, he's very happy he's in school!! and studying!! just look at him. a lil' nurse in the making. ]

[even with anna wearing the trauma on her face, her shoulders lower and she smiles. it's just... it's so nice to see good things happening to people. it's so much of a relief that there are people who can live their lives when she feels like she's spinning her wheels again.]

Proud of you. You've already got great bedside manner. [that might be a dumb thing to say, but she's still smiling all the same.] Is that what you wanted to tell me?

[ anna......... that is like giving him an entire candy store. falco fights his smile down (which is cute, and bubbly), but it becomes strained the longer he waits to respond to that last question. falco's teeth begin to scrape about his bottom lip the more he fixes her up. ]

It's something else, actually . . . Did I, um— Did I see you, last month?

Last month?

[anna takes a moment to just kind of... think about everything that's happened in the past month. there was communion? no, that was two months ago. uh. she was—no, that was january too. god. what the hell has she been doing? other than getting her eye stabbed out. christ—oh! the penrose! the nuclear spaceship crash! she tries not to jerk her head over the realization; she just widens both eyes while keeping her head steady.]

No, I don't think so. But honestly, it's been a bit of a scramble in here lately, so... I could be forgetting something. Why, what happened last month?

[ with everything happening, gosh he doesn't blame her. he's almost happy she didn't get to see the worst because the flashes he does remember were so beautiful, yet . . .

heartbreaking. at least he was still alive and had ways to grow, here. ]

I— I think I was older? But I . . . [ he worries his lip. it's harder to explain now that he's trying to. ] I didn't stay for too long.

[ he died. he died for good. ]

[ah, fuck. that's what he means after all. anna sits there trying not to respond for a moment. thinking about apollonia, thinking about the way everyone else changed. thinking on how apollonia died, too, and how she lives on inside anna at the same time. thinking about how complicated it all is. she breathes out through her nose, her chest sinking.]

I hoped that wasn't what you were talking about. That's why everything's so scrambled in here. [but her own problems aren't what matter. her good eye moves to look at him. (without the glass eye, she can feel her other eye's muscles moving, trying to do it all in sync. she really does not like that sensation.) she asks a question like she suspects the answer.] Was it peaceful, at least?

[apollonia and kriemhild flash in her memory. a large part of her prays that falco never experiences what they had.]

I— think so? It’s kind of blurry.

[ the memories a jammed, scrambled— but he knows enough of it. he’s gentle in drying his work around anna’s eye socket as he speaks. ]

But I know I stayed with Jun. Just watching the beach. We were talking until it was like . . . Falling asleep.

[ he’s afraid to say it was nice, but after sitting through weeks of considerable, horrid aches and pains that wouldn’t go away, that lifting warmth was bliss. ]

I don’t want it all to stop there.

[god. this is the part where falco loses anna, at least internally. on the outside, she can handle this just fine. her expression doesn't change and she doesn't seem like she's flinching or grimacing or whatever, or at least not more than she would be given the eye care going on. inside, she can't imagine making peace with apollonia, wishing her a more graceful exit from the world. but falco has always been her better. falco has always had a kinder heart than she could ever fathom.]

I got to do that with Kainé. It was... peaceful, even if it shouldn't have been. [she's happy that her bonded is back to normal, and that's probably the most she wants to think on it. she's keeping herself as steady as she can.] So I get it. What do you want to do for him?

Mister D said he's going to try biting me.

[ which might sound worse than it is. maybe? he's just . . . well, he trusts sharon. he trusts d, too. that bounds together with the will to risk and he's set. ]

Do you know . . . Mister D? What he is?

[anna almost shakes her head, then thinks better of it and just gives a quiet "uh-uh" in response.]

I think I've seen the name around, but I don't know if I could tell you much more than that. [there's a few ideas on what falco could be talking about, especially with that last question, but she won't jump to any conclusions.] I have some guesses.

It's "dhampir", so . . .

[ better than being dead dead, he adds: ]

They think a bite can stop other curses from happening. And I wanted to let you know, so . . . You don't have to worry about anything.

Edited 2023-05-18 21:39 (UTC)

[dhampir. yeah, she knows that one.]

You're going to let yourself get turned into a vampire so nothing else can get you? [she has no idea if it'll actually work, but it is kind of a big deal. she sits with it for a moment, not really judgmental in her gaze or her posture. she's just...]

I appreciate that you told me, definitely. And you're sure this is the best thing for it?

We don’t know what else is . . . And we searched everywhere.

[ he can’t say everything, but they have all been collectively searching with no promising result beyond this one. ]

I, erm . . . Won’t be undead, at least.

Well. Thank god for that, at least.

[she's just thinking about the idea. falco wouldn't be undead, but... well, no. no, anna, you know that you can't think something like that, because literally how would you justify it versus yourself? how could you have problems with someone else doing something that you'd been fucking thrilled to do? she furrows her brow as she has that small internal debate, then comes out with an answer.]

Everyone needs to do what it takes to protect themselves here. We can't all, I don't know, bond with Kainé to get by. Sometimes we need to take more extreme measures. And if this is what's going to keep you safe, I think you should do it.

ic inbox

no subject

no subject

..... where did that random hmmm come from??? autocorrect???? 😭

falco is contemplative now

just suddenly acting against me (cw for brief mention of war and ptsd-related suicide)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject